Drunk Drivers on "Killer Stretch of Road" Targeted

Published Jul 22, 2009 at 12:34 PM

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Drunken driving accidents have accounted for 11 of the 19 fatalities on the highway over the past three years.

Some call highway 67 "Blood Alley," others call it "Slaughterhouse Canyon." One of the most dangerous stretches of road in the county is about to see increased DUI enforcement.

The state is putting $265,000 toward stepped-up enforcement along the highway over the next year following a deadly crash that killed a woman. Her infant son miraculously survived.

Drunken driving accidents have accounted for 11 of the 19 fatalities on the highway over the past three years. It can be a wild ride but the highway is just part of the problem.

"It's the people who are driving the cars. They're driving too fast. They're driving under the influence of alcohol," County Sup. Dianne Jacob said. “This is beautiful East County. I think when people come out here, they think they're in the back country and they can do anything they want. Well, wrong! They can't."

The highway is a narrow, twisty thoroughfare that climbs and dips through its 25 miles from El Cajon past Mount Woodson in Ramona. Some fixes obviously are in order.

A major factor is alcohol so the state is spending the money to send the California Highway Patrol out for 2,200 more hours of DUI enforcement patrols and checkpoints over the next year. Speeders will get caught up too.

Tragically, it’s too late for 25-year-old Alexandria Drake, who died Sunday as a result of two other drivers who were racing. One of the racers crashed and is in custody, the other got away.

"He left the scene like a coward... please don't let that be Alex and Jayden's legacy,” the victim’s mother Pamela McKeirnan said.

Supervisor Jacob accuses CalTrans of resisting the idea of K-railing the median between the lanes on highway-67.

The agency has installed rumble-strips and speed-readout displays, but says K-rails would be a huge problem because they'd require a lot of road widening, and there'd be too many gaps. Supervisor Jacob says she’s not convinced.